ULYSSES SLOW READ

A group dedicated to reading and discussing Joyce's Epic at a relaxed pace.

Céad míle fáilte (a hundred thousand welcomes!)

Hello, everyone! I am delighted that you have decided to join me on this Epic Journey through what I regard as one of the world’s most remarkable literary creations. I hope that, by the end of our time together, you will think so too. I also hope that all of you, whether seasoned readers and dedicated Joyceans like me, complete newcomers to the book, or anything at all in between, will feel free to express your views and ideas, and ask any questions about the book, Joyce, Ireland and the Irish, or anything else, and I (or another member of our group) will, I hope, be able to answer you, or refer you to a person or book/website that will be able to help.

As promised, here is the first part of our SLOW READ AND DISCUSSION SCHEDULE: (N.B. IT COVERS 45 WEEKS INCLUDING PAUSES FOR REFLECTION AND REVIEW ) We will use this week, 1-7 March, for initial ‘get to know you’ comments and introductory information about the background to ULYSSES, Joyce, and his writing then start reading Episode 1 ( 8- 15 March).

PART ONE: THE TELEMACHIAD, in which we meet our co-protagonist, STEPHEN DEDALUS, a young man who has just renounced his youthful vocation to become a Jesuit Priest in favour of pursuing a vocation to become a Literary Artist. At present, he is dealing with grief, intellectual frustration and rivalry with his ‘frenemy’ Buck Mulligan, a fellow aspiring young Dublin writer. He is also looking for a ‘father figure’ to replace his own, very disappointing one. Stephen represents Telemachus, son of Odysseus, in Homer’s Odyssey- don’t worry too much about the parallels for now: they will be explained further.

Episode 1: (Read Telemachus (whole episode) MARCH 1- 8) For the benefit of those finding it difficult to find where each Episode ends and a new one begins, I will provide the last word(s) of each Episode and the first words of the next, as follows: TELEMACHUS (Episode 1) ends with the single word ‘Usurper!’

DISCUSSION BEGINS: MARCH 8 and continues until MARCH 15, to allow everyone to catch up.

Focus: Establishing relationships between Stephen, Buck Mulligan and Haines, Mulligan’s English friend.

Episode 2: Nestor (whole episode) (Episode 2 begins with the words ‘You, Cochrane…’ and ends with '…spangled, dancing coins.’ Please read between March 15 and March 22. (Discussion ongoing: March 15-29)

Focus: Stephen is working as a teacher. Irish Catholic and Protestant relationships, anti-semitism, and history)

Episode 3: Proteus (whole episode). Episode 3 begins with ‘Ineluctable modality of the visible…’ (Yes, I gasped, too, the first time I tried to read this one!) THIS IS OUR FIRST REAL STYLISTIC HURDLE, BUT PLEASE DON’T GIVE UP! PLEASE (DO YOUR BEST TO ) READ This Episode between March 29 and April 5th, with Discussion ongoing from April 5th-12th and possibly for a further week, depending on need/responses)

Focus: Stephen walking on the beach, his stream of consciousness. Our first real stylistic hurdle- densely filled with references to philosophy, theology, etc. Don’t worry too much about the meaning if it all feels too dense- read it for the word music and the rhythms of the prose.

THEN we will have some time to pause for reflection and review of The Telemachiad. Hopefully, we will have been having lots of discussions, and no one will have dropped out!

I will continue the Reading Schedule in my next post.

If you want some assistance, an excellent guide for first-time readers is THE GUIDE TO JAMES JOYCE’S ULYSSES by Patrick Hastings, which is modern and very accessible.

THE NEW BLOOMSDAY BOOK by Harry Blamires is also excellent in many ways for new readers, since it translates Joyce’s dense (but in my opinion, brilliant!) prose into clear, narrative English. I think quite a lot is lost in taking this approach, but it has proved incredibly helpful to a great many readers.

PODCASTS:

I recommend listening to this Broadcast Audio Play, Ulysses by RTE, as a supplement to reading the printed text- do both at the same time. It’s a 30-hour-long full dramatisation of the book, available on most podcast apps and also to buy. People have found it incredibly useful, especially when getting to grips with the streams-of-consciousness sections and hearing the text spoken by real Irish actors.

Frank Delaney: Re: Joyce. Irish broadcaster Delaney spent years unpicking the book, line by line, in manageable 5-15-minute episodes. Tremendously entertaining and informative.

Blooms versus Barnacles, hosted by two passionate Joyceans, breaks down each episode in discussion between these two readers.